Latest report suggests Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won't debut Tuesday
With the biggest moment of the Toronto Blue Jays season imminent, there have been reports flying around left, right, and centre about the exact date of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s arrival.
Right now, it’s not exactly clear what’s to be believed, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today threw his hat into the ring on Monday suggesting that Vladdy will make his debut Tuesday, then retracted his report shortly after.
The Toronto #BlueJays, fresh off a three-game sweep over the Oakland #Athletics, should have all of Canada buzzing when they are expected to call up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on Tuesday when they play the #SFGiants in Toronto. All that remains is the official announcement.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 22, 2019
The #Bluejays are awfully close to promoting Vlad Guerrero Jr, but are NOT bringing him up Tuesday to debut against the #SFGiants in Toronto. The wait continues.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 22, 2019
Nightengale has gone back on his previous statement, but there have been others who’ve also suggested that Vladdy is on his way imminently, like Hector Gomez and Rob Fai of Sportsnet 650.
SOURCE: The Blue Jays will call up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He will make his MLB's debut on Tuesday vs @SFGigantes, at Rogers Centre.#ZDigital #ZDeportes @z101digital @ZDeportes
— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) April 19, 2019
BLUE JAYS: Vladdy watch is 4/23 as reported. Series vs. Giants. This has been the target since the beginning and was conveyed to Vladdy as well. Had to work toward getting healthy on a few fronts but 4/23 has been the vision since the spring.
— Rob Fai (@RobFaiNation) April 21, 2019
Neither Fai nor Gomez has a lengthy track record of breaking Blue Jays news, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily wrong.
With Nightengale’s latest update, there’s a fair amount of skepticism about that date, and the 20-year-old phenom has yet to play on three consecutive days in Triple-A, a minor milestone for his recovery from a spring training oblique injury.
Friday still looks like a logical option, and a good night to make the debut an event. It also gives the Kevin Pillar return some space, and Guerrero Jr. a couple more days to ready himself.
Everyone and their mother, and their mother’s friends, and those friends’ dental hygienists, and their psychics, wants to see Vladdy ASAP. Now that service time isn’t a consideration, so do the Blue Jays. This is going to happen sooner or later.
Whether it happens Tuesday is probably still up for debate.
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